Inspiration -- Angela Gomes

FROM ANGELA
by Vanessa Ann C. Remoquillo
Ateneo de Davao University, Davao City

To be a woman and to write of a woman who has accomplished much not only for those of her gender but for humanity as well, seems to find a time congruence in my spirit, a conjoining of that which is both innate and that which is shared in triumph by many in the world.

When Angela Gomes first set out to help oppressed Bangladeshi women, I would surmise greatness was not what she aspired for. It might even be that visions of prominence and fame were the last to spring to her mind as she made the rounds of the filthy villages in the outskirts of Jessore; these worldly ideals are always the least concern weighing on those in the annals of greatness. In the dirt roads lined with the huts of Bangladesh’s destitute, there was hardly any promise of glamour and renown in the lined and weary faces of the women, who, in a country already poor, were poorer still. Angela had heard their harrowing tales of injustice and denial of human rights – all the gruesome fates women had borne in silence in the conviction that this was their lot in life.

Angela took it upon herself to speak, and loudly at that, for those who had no voice – in a culture where ears instantly turned deaf when this voice was female. Thus began Banchte Shekha, a movement towards educating and empowering Bangladeshi women. Angela quite heroically goes down in history as the spirit behind the amazing, sweeping development in the lives of countless women who had once been abandoned and abused, and are now learning to stand on wobbly legs and live independently.

Hers is the story of all women from different corners of the world, from different races, backgrounds, cultures, and lifestyles. Angela’s achievement speaks not of an extraordinary stroke of inspiration, but of a deep and compelling will to bring comfort where there is torment, to sow peace where there is discord, to give love when there is none. This extension of the self is noble, yes indeed – but only innate to the female spirit, the force that brings cheer and light even into the darkest fringes of the earth.

Hers is a story that has caused ripples to stir in the placid lake that is my cloistered life. It takes a stretch of my imagination to picture suppression, in this day and age when young women such as myself can freely decide and face the world on our own terms. We have proven, only too well, that there are no hurdles we cannot overcome – in our unique way, in a celebration of our wonderful difference from men, in the joyous trumpeting of the blessing of our being women.

Angela’s selfless work in Bangladesh inspires me to take pride in being the ordinary woman, someone in the wings waiting in determined silence for my own moment to leave an eternal result on the canvas of history. The roles that women play, especially in the lives of other women, are not at all times glittering and glamorous. Often they are down-to-earth images of everyday heroism. I have learned, through Angela, that fame is not the fitting prize for helping change the course of the lives of others shackled to immense destitution and crippling dependency.

The prize is in gaining a small space in history, in being read about by a teenage girl somewhere, and perhaps earning the opportunity to touch some more lives through her. The reward is the hope that this girl, too, may touch that gentler, kinder flame in her soul and be inflamed by the fervor to reach out to others and bring the helpless to their feet.

The struggle for women’s empowerment today has become a mere politically correct platform that runs smack into fashionable activism. Yet after all the speeches have been uttered and the placards set aside, these women need no more words, only an authentic commitment that the world will not let the other half remain trapped in the quagmire of misguided religion and oppressive culture, for long. Angela was special like that; it was not so much the sweeping statements that changed the face of the Bangladeshi woman; it was Angela’s outstanding efforts to save her from the fringes of obscurity.

Angela cannot make me any prouder to be a woman than I already am. But imagining her against the dusty landscape, walking from hut to hut and stopping to speak to women on the street, I realize that, certainly more than pride, it is joy with which I am overwhelmingly filled. Whether they have been in bondage for months or for centuries, it does not matter. There is hope yet for every woman in the world to finally break free and walk the world as an equal. Ringing true are her words: "Every day is a new day."

And it is real – most of all for this young woman who has only read about Angela Gomes. She is made of the substance that makes us proud to be women. Indeed, every day is tinged with the promise that we might be called to the same greatness, and answer just as resolutely.

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